The week's 27 best concerts: Sept. 20-26

Rounding up the week's best concerts in the Twin Cities.
GorillazRoy Wilkins Auditorium, Wednesday 9.20
Gorillaz, the “virtual band” of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett, debuted in 2001 with their self-titled album, a twitchy blend of alt-rock and trip-hop. They …

Minnesota (MN)

GorillazRoy Wilkins Auditorium, Wednesday 9.20 Gorillaz, the “virtual band” of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett, debuted in 2001 with their self-titled album, a twitchy blend of alt-rock and trip-hop. They returned in 2005 with Demon Days, which established the mixtape-like template Gorillaz have used for their albums ever since, featuring cameos from a menagerie of guests including De La Soul on the hit “Feel Good Inc.” Days’ long-awaited follow-up, 2010’s Plastic Beach, was an even stronger record overall, with appearances from the likes of Lou Reed and Snoop Dogg, but after 2011’s underwhelming iPad-recorded experiment The Fall, Gorillaz were inactive for nearly five years. Humanz, which arrived this April, features everyone from incisive Long Beach rapper Vince Staples to Albarn’s former Britpop rival Noel Gallagher, helping to carry out the Gorillaz vision of a party in the face of our nightmarish political climate. Staples and zany Detroit rapper Danny Brown open Wednesday’s show. 7:30 p.m. $101-$315. 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; 651-265-4800.—Michael Madden

Sheer MagTriple Rock Social Club, Wednesday 9.20 Sheer Mag is out here crafting some of the best, purest rock songs you could ask for. After self-releasing three EPs in as many years, the Philly five-piece secured their status as a favorite new act among rock critics—seemingly every one of whom likened the band’s sound to Thin Lizzy. Singer Tina Halladay leads the charge with her defiant and genuinely soulful singing, but the fiery riffs of guitarist Kyle Seely—who, in channeling legendary axemen like Angus Young, Scott Gorham, and Brian Robertson, is sneakily approaching guitar-hero status—are equally integral from song to song. The band delivered their debut album, Need to Feel Your Love, this summer, and it’s everything fans wanted, showcasing Sheer Mag at their most political (opener “Meet Me in the Street,” for example, extolls the value of protest) while incorporating funk and disco into the expected mix of garage rock, punk, and power pop. Laffing Gas and Joust open. 18+. 8 p.m. $10-$12. 629 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-333-7399. —Michael Madden

Rhiannon GiddensThe O’Shaughnessy, Wednesday 9.20 With the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon Giddens helped shed light on obscured African-American string band and other folk traditions. On her second solo album, Freedom Highway, she uses the same scholarship, spectacular voice, and unwavering instincts to trace the arc of history from slavery through the Civil Rights Movement to the recent violence that spawned Black Lives Matter. Giddens wrote most of these songs, some of which are stark, chilling tales based on slave narratives (“At the Purchaser’s Option” is about a mother’s possible separation from her baby) or current events (“Better Get It Right the First Time,” with a riveting rap by Justin Harrington, concerns a fatal police shooting). Others, such as “We Could Fly,” show the resilient spirit that somehow kept hope alive. The culmination is a joyous, horn-driven R&B romp through the title track, the Staple Singers’ civil rights anthem. It’s a remarkable musical and emotional journey, grounded in blues that still resonate. 7:30 p.m. $27-$57. 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul; 651-690-6700.—Rick MasonLegendary Shack ShakersUptown VFW, Wednesday 9.20 The Legendary Shack Shakers have been rattling sheds, shotguns, cribs, and other abodes below the Mason-Dixon with their raw, wild-eyed assortment of rockabilly, blues, honky-tonk, and primordial rock ’n’ roll for a coupla decades. The raucous blend wraps around the echoey howls, shouts, and biting apocalyptic ravings of Colonel J.D. Wilkes, the quartet’s frontman, periodic harmonica honker, Southern gothic lyricist, and single constant over the years. Wilkes again battles swamp demons, ghosts, and obsessions on LSS’s new After You’ve Gone—apparently Wilkes’ wife split, and he hasn’t taken it well. He moans in self-pity on the saxophone-laced title honky-tonker, ricochets between despair and retribution on the reggaeish “Garden of Delights,” rages with hurricane intensity on “Frankenstein’s Monster,” pleads for relief on the thundering rockabilly “Get Outta My Brain,” and finally unleashes a voodoo doll and needles on the gris-gris invoking “White Devil.” It’s pure, bristling anguish that rocks off the rails. Jaw Knee Vee opens. 21+. 9:30 p.m. $14-$16. 2916 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-823-6233.—Rick Mason

Open Mike Eagle7th St Entry, Sunday 9.24 Ever since he coined the term “art rap” in the early 2000s, L.A.-via-Chicago MC Open Mike Eagle has eschewed all manner of rap clichés to become an entirely idiosyncratic artist. Even among quirky indie rap contemporaries like Aesop Rock, Homeboy Sandman, and Serengeti, the 36-year-old Mello Music Group signee stands out. He’s funny, a little nerdy, and obsessed with pop culture, with a penchant for …

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London police say emergency services are outside the Natural History Museum in London after a car struck pedestrians. Police say a number of people have been injured and one person has been detained at the…

We sure don’t need any more rain right now! Take heart, our weather will improve as we go through the weekend. Our Saturday morning showers are expected to shift eastward early Saturday afternoon. Showers and an isolated thunderstorm could linger over parts of southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin until late Saturday afternoon. The National…

Forty-two people have been brought to Hennepin County Medical Center since Wednesday. The victims believe they took K2. So far, no one has died, but authorities are spreading the word about the drug's…

In a one-two punch elating religious conservatives, President Donald Trump's administration is allowing more employers to opt out of no-cost birth control for workers and issuing sweeping religious-freedom directions that could override many anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people and…